Heel



C. O. RYBERG HEEL Aug. 9, 1938t Filed Feb. 27, 1936 Patented Aug. 9, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to heels for womens shoes. It is an object of the invention to provide heels which are strong, light in weight, easy to make, and which can be made with novel design effects.

The customary heel for ladies shoes, particularly heels of considerable height, usually contain considerable material. If such heels are made of horizontal layers of leather or the like,

the heels are liablerto be excessively heavy, due to the weight of the fastening elements which are required to hold the layers together. Heels of this type are usually made of wood owing to the comparative lightness of the Wood. Such heels, however, must be suitably covered and are therefore not subject to alterations in shape to conform to the shoe.

According to the present invention, heels may be made of suitable materials such as leather or' the like, the heels being `made with vertical laminaticns instead of horizontal laminations, so that the layers can be held together solely by suitable adhesives without incurring danger of failure of the heel. e

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description of certain embodiments thereof, and to the drawing of which e Figure 1 is an elevation of a shoe having a heel embodying the invention in one of its various forms.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the heel shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig- Figure 4 is a rear elevational view of a modified form of the invention.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of another modified form of the invention.

Figure '7 is a front elevation of the heel illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a sectional view similar to Figure 6,

showing a modification.

Figure 9 is a sectional view of another modification of the invention.

Figure 10 is a section on the line III-I0 of Figure 9.

Figures 2 and 4 show two forms of heels which in general are of conventional exterior shape but have cut-away portions tending to reduce the cubic content of the heel Without any material reduction in the mechanical strength thereof.

Furthermore, as shown, both these heels may include in their structure substantially vertical plates, slabs or layers of material. Any suitable material, such as leather, rubber, light metals, or equivalents, may be employed. By way of eX- ample, the heel illustrated in Figure 2 is made of 5 pieces or slabs of brous material such as leather. The heel seat, as shown, may consist of one or more layers I0 of leather supported on a shank consisting of vertical layers of leather including transverse or breast layers I I and longitudinal 10 layers I2. Any suitable or desirable number of layers may be employed for' each of these three portions of the heel. As shown, two layers of leather are used for the seat portions, two layers II for the breast portion, and three layers I2 in 15 the rear portion, the latter being disposed in planes extending longitudinally of the shoe. A lift or horizontal layer I3 of leather may also be provided at the bottom of the heel (referring to its position when in actual use), this lift being 20 in direct contact With the ground when the shoe is being worn. The pieces of leather used to make up the heel are preferably secured together by suitable Waterproof adhesives. It is evident that the heel, particularly if it is a high heel of 25 the Louis or spike variety, should be built' so as to have considerable mechanical strength, since otherwise the heel is liable to break in two if transverse stresses are imposed thereon, as when the Weight of the wearer is oi centeror the Vheel 30 catches on the edge of a step. The arrangement of the vertical laminae II and I2 is such as to impart great strength to the heel in a manner to oppose such stresses. The arrangement of these laminae is such as to leave considerable 35 voids or cut-away areas I5 with the conventional heel contour defined by the shank, which not only impart a novel and pleasing appearance to the heel, but materially reduce the cubic content, and hence the Weight, of the heel. It is 40 evident that, instead of leather, slabs of other materials such as rubber, metal, Wood or the like can be employed, or any desirable combination of these or other materials, the arrangement of the slabs in vertical planes being a feature tend- 45 ing to strengthen the heel mechanically as well as to provide a pleasing appearance therefor. Furthermore, heels can be made according to the invention without the laminated structure disclosed but having voids or cut-away portions 50 I5 to reduce the weight. Thus, for example, heels having the general shape shown in Figure 2 can be molded or cast of metal or any suitable plastic. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate another variety of heel embodying the invention. As shown in 55 these figures, the heel is of conventional general shape and is composed of one or more layers 20 forming the seat, these layers being supported by a shank consisting of transverse vertical breast slabs 2| and longitudinal or front-to-rear slabs 22. Of the latter, the central slabs are in vertical planes and are flanked by outer slabs 26 and 21 which are secured to the central slabs 25 at their lower portions but which diverge from the central slabs leaving voids 28. In this way the material in the heel is reduced in volume and the weight of the heel is correspondingly reduced. The resulting heel further presents a novel and` pleasing appearance.

The heel illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 is similar to that shown in Figures 4 and 5, except that the transverse laminae are omitted and the body of the heel is made up entirely of slabs: extending in a front-to-rear direction. As shown `in Fig.- ure 7, the seat portion 30 is supported by vertical slabs consisting of a. central set 31 disposed in vertical planes. This set of slabs is anked by other sets 32 and 33 secu-red to the lower portionA of the cen-tral set but diverging upwardly froml the central set to leave voids 35, these voidsv extending through the heel in a front-to-rear direction. In order to form the curve of the breast in this heel, a transverse piece 36 may be secured beneath the forward end of the seat portion. Or, if desired, the shank slabs may be cut to include the curve of the breast as at 3:1y in Figurev 8.

The heel illustrated in Figures 9 and l0 is a solid heel but employs the laminated structureA on the same principle as that illustrated in- Figure 2, the heel in. Figure 9 consisting of seat laminae 40 supported by transverse laminae 4l at the breast portion of the heel and longitudinal laminae 42 at the rear portion of the heel, as indicated iny Figure 10.

It is to be understood that various other modiflcations can be made employing one or more of' the parts illustrated in the several figures of the" drawing andthat for each such form of heel various suitable materials or combinations of materials may be employed asdesired. The invention is not to 'be' limited to the specific embodi'ments shown and described but may include such modifications `and changes as comel within the 'scope of the following claims.

I claim:-

l. A shoe heel comprising a seat portion Yand a shank portion with a T-shapedv cross section supporting said seat portion, said shank portion consisting of a breast portion disposed in a vertical plane transverse tothe long axis of the seat and a rear portion disposed in a vertical plane parallel to said axis, said rear portion having a thickness less than the Width of the breast portion whereby a pyramidal void is left in the flanks of the heel on either side of said rear portion.

2. A shoe heel comprising a seat portion consisting of one or more layers of leather, and a shank portion supporting said seat portion, said shank portion comprising a breast portion of one or more vertical leather laminae in planes transverse to the long axis of the seat, and a rear portion consisting of a plurality of laminae disposed in substantially front-to-rear planes and adhesively secured to said breast portion.

3.. A shoe heel comprising a seat portion consisting of one or more layers of leather, and a shan-k portion supporting said seat portion, said shank portion comprising a breast portion of one or more vertical leather laminae in planes transverse to the long axis of the seat, and a rear portion consisting of a plurality of laminae disposed i-n substantially vertical planes and adhesively secured to said breast portion, the thickness of said rear portion being less than the width of the breast portion, whereby a pair of recesses are left in the ank of the heel.

4. A shoe heel having a seat portion and a shank portion supporting said seat portion, said shank portion comprising laminae arranged in substantially vertical planes, the breast portion of said shank consisting of one or more laminae disposed transversely with respect to the long axis of the seat, the rear portion of the shank consisting of a plurality of laminae parallel to said axis.

5. A shoe heel having a seat portion and a shank portion supporting said seat portion, said shank portion comprising a. plurality of fibrous slabs arranged in substantially vertical planes parallel to the long axis of the heel seat, the outer slabs being jointed to the lower portion of the central slabs and iiaring away therefrom upwardly to form front-to-rear voids in said heel.

(i. A shoe heel having a vertical height substantially greater than its other dimensions, said heel havingy a seat portion anda shank portion attached to and supporting said seat portion, said shank portion consisting of a plurality of substantially' vertical slabs secured together and to said seat portion in such a manner as to provide voids within thev conventional contours dened by said shank.

CHARLES O. RYBERG. 

